[4/9] CHINESE GODS AND GODDESSES | CHANG’E
Chang’e or Chang-o [嫦娥] is the Chinese goddess of the Moon. Unlike many lunar deities in other cultures who personify the Moon, Chang’e only lives on the Moon.
In one version of the Chang’e legend, she was a beautiful young girl working in the Jade Emperor’s palace in heaven, where immortals, good people and fairies lived. One day, she accidentally broke a precious porcelain jar. Angered, the Jade Emperor banished her to live on earth.
Chang’e was transformed into a member of a rich farming family. When she was 18, a young hunter named Houyi from another village spotted her, now a beautiful young woman. They became friends. One day, a strange phenomenon occurred—10 suns arose in the sky instead of one, blazing the earth. Houyi, an expert archer, stepped forward to try to save the earth. He successfully shot down nine of the suns, becoming an instant hero. He eventually became king and married Chang’e.
But King Houyi grew to become greedy and selfish. He sought immortality by ordering an elixir be created to prolong his life. The elixir in the form of a single pill was almost ready when Chang’e came upon it. She either accidentally or purposely swallowed the pill. This angered King Houyi, who went after his wife. Trying to flee, she jumped out the window of a chamber at the top of the palace—and, instead of falling, she floated into the sky toward the Moon.
Chinese Mythology: The Story of Chang’e and Houyi
Houyi was an exceptional archer - one whose skills were known far and wide. His lover, Chang’e was just as exceptional - her beauty was unsurpassed.
One day, the ten children of the Jade Emperor rose in the sky in rebellion of their parents. They scorched the earth with their heat and razed the ground with their rays. To save the world Houyi shot them down with arrows saving only one to light the earth.
嫦娥 Chang’e
誰懸明鏡畫樓前，一片青光萬古圓。
不是姮娥拚獨處，何人領袖廣寒天。If Heng’e* had not struggled to be all alone,
Who would there have been to rule the moon?*Heng’e （姮娥） was an earlier name for Chang’e （嫦娥）
According to legend, Chang’e and her husband Houyi were immortals living in heaven. One day, the ten sons of the Jade Emperor transformed into ten suns, causing the earth to scorch. Having failed to order his sons to stop ruining the earth, the Jade Emperor summoned Houyi for help. Houyi, using his legendary archery skills, shot down nine of the sons, but spared one son to be the sun. The Jade Emperor was obviously not pleased with Houyi’s solution to save the earth: nine of his sons were dead. As punishment, the Jade Emperor banished Houyi and Chang’e to live as mere mortals on earth.
Seeing that Chang’e felt extremely miserable over her loss of immortality, Houyi decided to journey on a long, perilous quest to find the Elixir of Immortality so that the couple could be immortals again. At the end of his quest he met the Queen Mother of the West who agreed to give him the elixir, but warned him that each person would only need half the elixir to become immortal.
Houyi brought the elixir home and stored it in a case. He warned Chang’e not to open the case and then left home for a while. Some sources say that Chang’e struggled with either Houyi or Houyi’s apprentice, to stop him from drinking the elixir, other sources say she became too curious: she opened up the case and found the elixir just as Houyi was returning home. Nervous that Houyi would catch her discovering the contents of the case, she swallowed the entire elixir. She started to float into the sky because of the overdose. Although Houyi wanted to shoot her in order to prevent her from floating further, he could not bear to aim the arrow at her. Chang’e kept on floating until she landed on the Moon.
While she became lonely on the Moon without her husband, she did have company. A jade rabbit, who manufactured elixirs, also lived on the Moon.